Maké Dangnokho
January 16, 2009
Last Tuesday in Dakar, the new coordinator of the Aoudaghost Network Senegal Platform, Kabyr Ndiaye, deplored how slowly the 1996 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was being implemented, some provisions of which have been integrated in the 2001 Constitution.
“Long marginalised, ESC rights have become more important but are still ill-known by a large part of the population. The absence of an official or shadow report and the lack of case law on the matter show that their enforceability and justiciability remain ineffective,” said Kabyr Ndiaye, at the time of the Aoudaghost-Senegal unit’s creation. Since then, according to Mr. Ndiaye, the Senegal platform’s mission has been to serve as a space of cooperation, exchange, dialogue and action for the participating organisations in order to promote and defend ESC rights in particular and human rights in general.
Besides, the NGO members of the Senegal Platform aim at: promoting and defending the population of Senegal, especially the most vulnerable (women, children, disabled people, young workers, refugees and displaced people); demanding from the state the implementation of ESC rights through the drafting of a shadow report as well as advocacy and lobbying activities; making ESC rights accessible to all; setting up a resource centre on ESC rights in Senegal; and exchanging on the prospect of creating an ESC rights platform. The Aoudaghost Network, a structure of support for NGOs, is divided into four countries: Benin, Togo, Mali and Senegal.
Source: allAfrica.com
